28 



AMERICAN SPIDERS AND THEIR SPINNINGWORK. 



constructed by the joint labors of the wedded couple, and is a loosely 

 framed den, with quite open meshes, spun upon the blossoming top or be- 

 tween the stalks of grasses. ^ 



Of the beautiful European Orbweaver, Epeira quadrata, Menge states 

 that towards the end of July he observed five nests in which the two sexes 

 lived together peacefully. These nests are similar to those made 

 Tempo- |jy Q^^j. Insular and Shamrock spiders, which are dens of folded 

 leaves, whose interiors are tapestried with silk. The female Quad- 

 rata occupied the upper part of the nest, having her fore legs 

 doubled up so that the knees projected above the head. The male occu- 

 pied the opposite part of the tent, and kept his legs folded as conveniently 

 as was possible under the circumstances without elevating the body. This, 

 however, was not a permanent arrangement, but only a preliminary stage 

 of courtship, and doubtless terminated when the act of pairing occurred. ^ 



rary Resi 

 dence. 



Fig. 9. Fig. 10. 



Fig. 9, female, and Fig. 10, male Water spider, Argyroneta aquatica. (After Blackwall.) 



I have seen the male and female of our Epeira insularis and trifolium occu- 

 pying the same tent, apparently under similar circumstances, and regarded 

 the situation as exceptional. Certainly these species habitually live separate. 

 Tlie Abbe de Lignac, having placed a large number of Argyronetas in 

 a bottle, found that they devoured each other. The male, says he, which 

 was perhaps the only one, had been sacrificed to the jealousies 

 of the females, who after him were mutually destroyed.^ Baron 

 AValckenaer records a fact which appears to be contrary to this. 

 He })ut a number of Water spiders in a glass vase along with some gold 

 fishes. Within the vase he placed a bunch of coral, and observed a female 

 make her bell shaped nest and attach it to a branch of the coral, and a 



' Staveley, British Spiders, page 120. 



^ Menge, Prussian Spiders. Under Epeira quadrata. 



* Memoire pour servir a commeneer I'Higtoire des Araign^es Aquatiques, page 52. Paris, 

 1748. By .Joseph Albert de Large de Lignac. I quote here and elsewhere from the original 

 edition in the library Acad. Nat. Sci. of Philadelphia. 



Domes- 

 ticity. 



